SCENE 59
INT. MACUSA LOBBY—NIGHT
Focus on the gigantic dial showing the Magical Exposure Threat Level. The hand moves from SEVERE to EMERGENCY.
Tina, case in hand, runs up the lobby steps, past witches and wizards huddled in groups, whispering nervously.
HEINRICH EBERSTADT (V.O.)
Our American friends have permitted a breach of the Statute of Secrecy . . .
SCENE 60
INT. PENTAGRAM OFFICE—NIGHT
An impressive hall arranged like an old parliament debating chamber. Every seat is occupied by wizards from all parts of the world. Madam Picquery is presiding, Graves at her side.
The Swiss delegate is speaking.
HEINRICH EBERSTADT
. . . that threatens to expose us all.
MADAM PICQUERY
I will not be lectured by the man who let Gellert Grindelwald slip through his fingers—
A hologram image of Senator Shaw’s dead and twisted body floats high above the room, emitting a glowing light.
All heads turn as Tina hurries into the chamber.
TINA
Madam President, I’m so sorry to interrupt, but this is critical—
Echoing silence. Tina slides to a halt in the middle of the marble floor before realizing exactly what she’s walked into. The delegates stare at her.
MADAM PICQUERY
You’d better have an excellent excuse for this intrusion, Miss Goldstein.
TINA
Yes—I do.
(stepping forward to address her)
Ma’am. Yesterday a wizard entered New York with a case. This case full of magical creatures, and—unfortunately—some have escaped.
MADAM PICQUERY
He arrived yesterday? You have known for twenty-four hours that an unregistered wizard set magical beasts loose in New York and you see fit to tell us only when a man has been killed?
TINA
Who has been killed?
MADAM PICQUERY
Where is this man?
Tina sets the case flat on the floor and thumps the lid. After a second or two, it creaks open. First Newt, then Jacob emerges, looking sheepish and nervous.
BRITISH ENVOY
Scamander?
NEWT
(closing the case)
Oh—er—hello, Minister.
MOMOLU WOTORSON
Theseus Scamander? The war hero?
BRITISH ENVOY
No, this is his little brother. And what in the name of Merlin are you doing in New York?
NEWT
I came to buy an Appaloosa Puffskein, sir.
BRITISH ENVOY
(suspicious)
Right. What are you really doing here?
MADAM PICQUERY
(to Tina, about Jacob)
Goldstein—and who is this?
TINA
This is Jacob Kowalski, Madam President, he’s a No-Maj who got bitten by one of Mr. Scamander’s creatures.
Furious reaction from the MACUSA employees and dignitaries all around.
MINISTERS
(whispers)
No-Maj? Obliviated?
Newt is absorbed in the image of Senator Shaw’s body floating around the room.
NEWT
Merlin’s beard.
MADAM YA ZHOU
You know which of your creatures was responsible, Mr. Scamander?
NEWT
No creature did this . . . Don’t pretend! You must know what that was; look at the marks . . .
ANGLE ON SENATOR SHAW’S FACE.
ANGLE ON NEWT.
NEWT
That was an Obscurus.
Mass consternation, muttering, exclamations. Graves looks alert.
MADAM PICQUERY
You go too far, Mr. Scamander. There is no Obscurial in America. Impound that case, Graves!
Graves summons the case; it lands next to him. Newt draws his wand.
NEWT
(to Graves)
No . . . Give that b—!
MADAM PICQUERY
Arrest them!
A dazzling eruption of spells hits Newt, Tina, and Jacob, all of whom are slammed to their knees. Newt’s wand flies out of his hands, caught by Graves.
Graves stands and picks up the case.
NEWT
(magically restrained)
No—no—don’t hurt those creatures—please, you don’t understand—nothing in there is dangerous, nothing!
MADAM PICQUERY
We’ll be the judges of that!
(to the Aurors now standing behind them)
Take them to the cells!
ANGLE ON GRAVES watching Tina as she, Newt, and Jacob are dragged away—
NEWT
(screaming, desperate)
Don’t hurt those creatures—there is nothing in there that is dangerous. Please don’t hurt my creatures—they are not dangerous . . . Please, they are not dangerous!
SCENE 61
INT. MACUSA CELL—DAY
Newt, Tina, and Jacob sitting, Newt with his head in his hands, still in utter despair about his creatures. Finally Tina, on the verge of tears, breaks the silence.
TINA
I am so sorry about your creatures, Mr. Scamander. I truly am.
Newt remains silent.
JACOB
(sotto voce, to Tina)
Can someone please tell me what this Obscurial—Obscurius thing is? Please?
TINA
(also sotto voce)
There hasn’t been one for centuries—
NEWT
I met one in Sudan three months ago. There used to be more of them but they still exist. Before wizards went underground, when we were still being hunted by Muggles, young wizards and witches sometimes tried to suppress their magic to avoid persecution. Instead of learning to harness or to control their powers, they developed what was called an Obscurus.
TINA
(off Jacob’s confusion)
It’s an unstable, uncontrollable Dark force that busts out and—and attacks . . . and then vanishes . . .
As she talks, we see the penny dropping. An Obscurus fits everything she knows about the perpetrator of the New York attacks.
TINA
(to Newt)
Obscurials can’t survive long, can they?
NEWT
There’s no documented case of any Obscurial surviving past the age of ten. The one I met in Africa was eight when she—she was eight when she died.
JACOB
What are you telling me here—that Senator Shaw was killed by a—by a kid?
Newt’s look says yes.